I'm a 32 year old librarian who loves to run, read, do yoga, golf, ski and hang out with my friends and family. I ran the 2008 & 2009 Boston Marathon for Team Eye & Ear to support the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Go Team Eye & Ear!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Costume Advice: How to Dress Like a Librarian

(This was originally posted last October; however, I'm starting to get a lot of hits for librarian costumes, and thought I'd post this entry again.)

I've been getting a lot of hits recently by people searching for "how to dress like a librarian." Will there be a lot of librarians trick-or-treating this year? My guess is that most people dressing as librarians will go for the "hot librarian" vs. "dowdy librarian" look. It's been my experience, that real-life librarians fall somewhere in the middle of these 2 stereotypes. That is, we don't look like we'll give you a spanking you'll enjoy and we also don't look like a character from the Revenge of the Nerds movies. As a librarian, I'm not going to offer any thoughts on how to dress like the "your book is overdue and I'm going to have to take you behind the stacks and make a man out of you" librarian. No one needs help on how to dress like a ho. I do, however, have some advice for those of you who plan to dress like your mother's librarian, since there are a handful of those keeping the stereotype alive and well.

Wear a lanyard, and attach as much crap to it as possible: t pass, work badge, several keys...

Don't wear glasses that you think are cute or vintage. Wear glasses similar to those that Angela used to rock on "Who's the Boss?"

Some years ago, I wrote a message on LIBREF-L on how to dress for different library jobs, i.e. children's librarian, medical librarian, etc.See: http://listserv.kent.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0206B&L=LIBREF-L&P=R3032&I=-3

The librarian look needs to be retro - who wants to see a "real" librarian on Halloween?

The hair needs to go up in a bun - this is a must. The shoes should be black leather, and have a clunky low heel - think grandma shoes. No eye shadow, but matte red lipstick. Those Angela glassas are too big - that's more just '80s bad fashion. Thick, dark frames, or maybe cat's eye frames with narrow lenses - with the neck cord, of course.

And of course, most librarians would need help dressing like a ho. It's not like they have a lot of experience.